Very small sample size here, but I recently read Jurassic Park, as has my brother. He thinks the Lost World is better than Jurassic Park, I think Jurassic Park is the better of the two. We both enjoyed both books.
The plot makes sense for a sequel, it feels very much like an answer to questions you might have had about Jurassic Park. Minus one or two characters, all the rest are entirely new, which could be a perk or not, depending. I think it's a solid book overall and definitely worth a read if you liked Jurassic Park.
WELL!! this is helpful bc i only had my brother's memory to go off of bc he read the books as a kid in the 90s and he doesn't remember liking the lost world. but he also had the sensibilities of a 13 year old, so like. you and your brothers opinion is more helpful to me!
i'm thinking i will read the sequel (though i've already been spoiled about who comes back from the dead), but i'll have to wait until i can get my hands on a copy. i actually almost bought it online but for whatever reason it was gonna take 2 weeks to ship?? and i'll probably stop by a bookstore or library this weekend, so i'd rather do that.
i had fun reading the book! the joy of living alone meant that there were several times where i fully yelled out loud at the characters or shouted about whatever i was reading, so it was fun. the movie still feels wholly separate, which is good.
@ all your anons: where's the whimsy? This show is absolutely wild (nun!marisol x catholic guilt as example number one) and I for one am along for the ride and would like to have as much fun while I'm here.
Anyways, I feel like my brain is spinning with all this new information, I think we'll have plenty to tide us over for this torturous 3 week wait. What's your highlight of the night so far? I personally can't get over Lou spilling all of abc's secrets and living to tell the tale.
no LITERALLY lmao like this episode was so batshit insane and i've never felt more alive !!!! the bucktommy of it all (tommy topping off his beer and paying for the meal, the hand holding!!!), eddie solidly in his catholic guilt era, THE BUDDIE HUG, all the clownery we got from the interviews (lou basically outing eddie, ryan talking about eddie's sexuality, everyone flirting with the potential of buddie happening) ???? i literally need to be put down
Please tell me you noticed the heart monitors and hospital beeps subtly tucked into the background of shots of Eddie trying to sleep. I've seen no one talk about them (and to be fair they did mingle with printer beeps a bit) but it's a GENIUS choice and I love how subtle it is while still being such a huge indicator of what's to come and what Eddie's struggling with.
Oh I ABSOLUTELY noticed. There were some bits with voices as well and I was trying to work through if they were shooting-related or army-related or both. But yeah, the heart monitors (particularly monitors flatlining) were SUCH a pointed choice.
(vaguer than I'd like, for all the pals who haven't watched it) I know some people are disappointed about how it all went down, but the way they made it so VERY CLEAR that Christopher was the reason for both of them to fall in line when it's clear that otherwise Buck would have tried something is insane. They're really utilizing that guardianship and the fact that Buck kinda technically has a kid now and I just... they have to know where this looks like it's heading, and what this looks like in general. It may not have been a love confession (why would it be) but hello? it's still very much a win in terms of the show solidifying their relationship
Idk what anyone is upset about tbh, I feel ridiculously fed right now. I think we’ve been assuming that Buck feels more confident and steady about his place and role in Christopher’s life and the Diaz family/with Eddie post-guardianship reveal but I think this episode really showcased, far more directly than the blackout eps (where we got the sweetness of Buck greeting Christopher at the station the same way Eddie did contrasted with his loneliness going home at the end to an empty apartment) how there’s pretty clearly still a block there for him. Because he can be working side by side with Eddie, they can be making decisions about themselves and their safety and Christopher’s safety together, they can be reacting to things like parents would, and yet Eddie is the one who gets to go home at the end of it all and see Christopher while Buck was once again back in his apartment. And even though Taylor was there, Buck himself was still fairly distant and distracted in the face of her concern and “did he get to see his kid”/“no, he didn’t” feels SO pointed it makes me absolutely insane.
And what it comes down to is that the question of Buck And Christopher can’t be fully answered/resolved until the question of Buck And Eddie is (or at a minimum until they at least scratch the surface of the giant shooting-shaped elephant in the room) so the tension is yet again building higher and higher and I think by the end of 5A it’s going to blow.
So Eddie called Buck 'bud' despite never having used anything but Buck or Evan for the past three seasons, breaking a precedent in their own relationship (Buck has also not used anything but Eddie - ignoring 2x1 where nothing stuck and was kind of in jest) but also in the show at large. The firefam use given names, preferred names, and nicknames only. The couples on the show use terms of endearment and pet names, so what's up with this break in the mold - an accident or on purpose? Are there thoughts to be had or are we just kind of wild about it?
I have NO IDEA but I’m also 👀👀👀👀, especially since it’s specifically a derivative of what they use with Christopher? And this is such a soft, sweet, domestic moment, and their dynamic has been so charged all season and Eddie just broke up with Ana a week ago…god, I almost wonder if it’s the kind of thing where if they were at a different place/time, being fully honest with each other and honest with themselves, he would have said something else? But this was as much as he would allow himself because they’re NOT there yet and not talking about any of it…the absolute chokehold they have me in right now…
What are your thoughts on this episode's 180 with Taylor? The show went from emphasizing the distance between her and Buck to having her be the character he was closest to for most of the episode. It's odd, especially since it felt like they were headed squarely into 'Taylor prioritizes work over Buck' and then this episode completely flipped that on its head.
I think I have to watch the episode again to sit with it some more because even though I was using the official Fox TV livestream it was still freezing and skipping all over the place. But I've been sitting with exactly that (the Taylor and B/T of it all) trying to work through it and...I don't know.
What I think is that there's something to the title/theme of Peer Pressure at play. Because yeah, we've been shown time and time again over the years, including this season, that Taylor is not a warm fuzzy super invested in her love life/here to uplift you emotionally and care about all your insecurities and fears type of person. And that's fine! So it very well could be that the "peer pressure" acting on her/their relationship is that she's seeing that, look, her boyfriend's sister just left, he's having a really rough time of it, maybe she needs to try on the "I Am Your Emotionally Available Girlfriend And You Are My Priority" skin. And it doesn't fit very well, which would explain why, to me at least, those scenes read as a little off. It gave me very "Eddie with Ana" vibes in terms of "I am projecting this image of what I think I should be doing" and just like with that I think where the writers have always come down in the long run is to basically showcase that if you're not being yourself/if you're trying to force yourself into a role that isn't right for you to please someone else, that's not sustainable and will ultimately cause problems.
It also could be interesting in another way which is to explore, again paralleling Eddie and Ana in a sense, Buck's issues with staying in/clinging to relationships that aren't truly fulfilling him. Because he knows that something is off, but if they have these occasional moments, those are things he can point to in his own denial to say "no, but this is fine, this is working after all, it's not a problem" because sometimes he's a priority, sometimes she's around, sometimes he's able to get what he needs out of this relationship. And part of his journey, in my opinion, is that he needs to accept that he deserves more than sometimes. (Which, let me be clear, is not me casting aspersions on Taylor or saying she's a bad girlfriend, I just don't think her needs and goals and Buck's needs and goals are compatible in the long run).
That said, this writer felt the need to have Maddie's voicemail refer to her as Maddie Kendall for some unknown godforsaken reason so maybe it was a failure of understanding the characters or really was all an attempt to retcon the very clear "Relationship Problems" signs from the other episodes (or at least hit the brakes). We'll have to see what's next to know. (Although, I remain a 5x6 "ethical conflict" truther, especially after seeing Taylor reporting on the man buried alive in the promo).
I came to the conclusion that this episode was both overwhelming and underwhelming (and we needed more time to breathe both ways). So, overwhelmed and underwhelmed, highs and lows, whatever you want to call it, what falls where? I'm giving you a push to just rant about whatever a) because I'm curious, and b) this episode was A Lot and I like hearing what other people thought so I can think about it from more angles. Also so you can just go off if you want to - because why not?
Under a cut for length:
Overwhelmed:
The opening. I knew it would kill me and it absolutely did, right straight through to Buck's shaking hands (Oliver HAS THE RANGE!!!!)
The Maddie stuff. It was good, but it's Rough and really would have benefited from more space to breathe instead of being dropped on us last episode and having so much crammed into so little time in this one.
Underwhelmed:
The Bathena resolution! There was so much they needed to work through and instead it was just like "oh, there's a sniper, since you're in danger that was all just a silly fight and we're going to work it all out in one conversation and be done." It was a great conversation, don't get me wrong, but...yeah.
The sniper plotline in general. I just think they spent too much time on it and got bogged down when it was really...not actually that important except as the initial catalyst (related to the above, since Bobby and Athena worked through all their issues and wrapped them up in a nice little bow right off the bat, her running into a fire to save him, while very cinematic and well-acted, also fell a little narratively flat for me)
Highs:
As frustrating as it is to have things be all about Buck all the time, Oliver really did act the hell out of almost every scene of his this episode. All the scenes with Eddie, the scenes with Christopher, the scene with Bobby, the scene with Carla...*chef's kiss*.
Lows:
All the B/T stuff was completely unnecessary and, frankly, not well done. There wasn't a foundation for it after it felt like they clearly closed that door in 4x12, it didn't feel like it fit anything we know about her character, and it took time that could have been used for other things.
The lack of Eddie! I was kind of prepared for that, but I thought it would be because they were going to drag out the question of if he was going to be okay (keep him in surgery for longer, have him not wake up so soon, etc). Instead, he was awake and recovering just...totally off screen which really made his trauma feel so much more like a plot device and thanks I hate that.
I had wondered if they were going to go the "Albert becomes a first responder" route and sure enough they did, but again, there was no build-up and it felt ultimately unnecessary and not something we needed to take time out of a complicated episode for. It would have been equally, if not more effective to have just started S5 and acknowledged "oh, look what Albert decided to do."
In general the pacing was just...off.
Anyway, I have plenty more thoughts, but it's late and those are some.
